Comedy Runs Thick in Family Performing Shtick

By Kevin Davis

Michael Meehan, one third of the talented acting trio The Meehan Brothers, discussed his art and current work at the Kaleo Cafe on Irving Street, the site of his former karate school.

Meehan paints a picture of the avenues back when he and his three brothers and four sisters were growing up.

"When we moved on the block in 1967 I mean there would be hundreds of kids playing out on the street all the time. So the city has changed dramatically. You don't see packs of kids playing in the street like you used to. We would block off the street with shopping carts and play ball right in the street. We definitely felt a real sense of ownership of the street. 'Hey this is our street. How dare you drive up our street while we're playing,' we'd say. We grew up in Golden Gate Park. That was our backyard." Meehan now takes his 13-year-old daughter Audrey to the park.

Meehan credits his performing and humor genes to his parents. His mother Valerie is a longtime chemistry professor and advisor to the honor society at City College. She retired in 1994 at the age of 70.

"My mom was always a lifelong performer in a sense. She would come to the table with a bowl of potatoes and throw a potato to somebody. So of course we'd all jump in. It was always fun like that."

Meehan's father liked to tell stories of his hardscrabble adventures leaving New Jersey at 17 and riding the rails as a hobo during the Great Depression. "We'd bug him to tell stories over and over about the war and growing up in the Depression," Meehan says.

"We were raised Catholic. My parents were spiritual. All of us definitely have a spiritual connection. They fostered a sense of acceptance," he recalls. My parents had an open-door policy. We always had characters coming in, Hungarian refugees, people from the Phillipines and my dad's old cronies from New Jersey down on their luck. There was also this family we hosted from Australia who needed a place to stay, plus various nephews and nieces, so us kids would jump on the couch and put on a show for our audience, whoever was around, with umbrellas and tophats.

"My mom was like the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do. Except she had hers plus all the other people she collected, including her students, who would hang out. Our house became 'The House,' where our teenage friends hung out on our porch. Plus, we had rabbits, guinea pigs, and some chickens that we stole from the zoo.

Meehan attended St. Anne's grammar school until an unfortunate incident involving a knife and a playground bench, at which time he and his brothers were sent to the Notre Dame Our Lady of Victory school. He attended Sacred Heart High School, where he recalls a sense of family among his peers, the 200 students in his graduating class.

"I always had some sort of hyperactive performance thing going on, doing stunts," Meehan recalls.

A series of events preceded Michael's decision to enter comedy after his father died. He attended Washington State University for one year and saw the film Animal House six times in 1978, he said.

"That permanently put me on the road to comedy," he says.

Meehan first started doing standup comedy 17 years ago at the now defunct Holy City Zoo in the Richmond and the Other Cafe at Carl and Cole streets.

"I was immediately hooked. I was hanging around comedy clubs six, seven nights a week," he said, learning from other city comedians at the time was Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Michael Pritchard and Bob Sarlatte.

Meehan elaborated on the attitude that makes him a survivor in the comedy business. "A lot of my peers that I started with in comedy have gone on to be successful and I'm cheering them right on. But they still respect me and know that I'm one of the funny guys, too. I'm grateful that I have this great life. I can go head to head with just about anybody. San Francisco is my element. I've gone to L.A. and rocked down there. That's where if you wanna be famous you gotta go. San Francisco's a wonderful town but its not L.A. and its not New York. Its always gonna be a secondary (comedy) market. In San Francisco I get to have this incredible life that revolves around comedy and entertainment. The trade off of giving up this life that I have for the opportunity to make it in some mythical daydream fame fashion is kinda crazy."

Meehan describes the City as "rich soil" in which to grow comedy. He currently performs once or twice per week at places like The Mock in the Mission District.

"You bring in your notebook and start working the jokes. No microphone. That's what the Holy City Zoo was."

He also books gigs and showcases material when not working as a freelance carpenter.

"I stay active, constantly working stuff and performing it. Performers perform. Do what you love and the money follows. You gotta be passionate about it. You gotta be obsessed with it," he concludes.

Michael and two of his brothers, Christopher and Howard can currently be seen in an hour-and-a-half comedy called, "Momma's Boyz: One Man's Journey to Move Out of His Mother's House" playing at a small theater a block from Union Square.

"The classic, my dad's got a barn. Let's put on a show," Michael says.

He started working with his brothers four years ago. "We had some sketches floating around and that's how you start: 'OK, I got a funny idea.' Rarely do we start with a theme. We collaborate, he says of the creative process.

"Howard's good at saying, 'We gotta stick to the story.' But we hate to throw out a joke. When we come together, that's definitely our strength - the dynamism of the threesome. It's fun to band people together and create this comedy beast and see where it goes." he adds.

"Working with my brothers has been fun and challenging. They're both skilled performers," Meehan said. "As an actor you want to show vulnerability, but as a brother you exploit vulnerability so that's a weak spot that we always have fun with.

The show is directed by Sarah Kliban, a casting director. "It's nice to get feminine energy directing three guys," Meehan said.

"We had a lot of support from people, friends and neighbors and people in the city who know us. With eight kids you have a large sort of social circle so everyone can get the word out."

Describing his favorite aspects of the neighborhood, Meehan lists Inner Sunset mainstays: Chelsea Books, Plutos, the Beanery, the cheese shop on 12th and Irving and M's Cafe.

"The Sunset feels like a small village connected to an international city. I can walk down the street and know a 100 different people," he said.